Federal prosecutors urged an Illinois federal judge Tuesday to reject further hearings and a special prosecutor over grand jury misconduct in a dismissed case against anti-ICE activists, arguing that the dismissal of the charges, the payout of their attorney fees, "substantial" internal reforms and a pending ethics probe render criminal contempt proceedings unnecessary.
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THURSDAY, AUGUST 6, 2026 Law360 iOS App Law360 Android App Follow Law360 on Facebook Follow Law360 on LinkedIn Follow Law360 on Twitter

TOP NEWS

Ill. Feds Fight Contempt Proceedings In ICE Protest Case

By Celeste Bott

Federal prosecutors urged an Illinois federal judge Tuesday to reject further hearings and a special prosecutor over grand jury misconduct in a dismissed case against anti-ICE activists, arguing that the dismissal of the charges, the payout of their attorney fees, "substantial" internal reforms and a pending ethics probe render criminal contempt proceedings unnecessary.

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UN Worker Died In 'Needless' Boeing Crash, Ill. Jury Hears

By Lauraann Wood

Boeing should pay substantial damages to the family of a former United Nations engineer who had a "magnetism" that spread light and comfort to others before he died in a "needless" and preventable plane crash aboard Ethiopian Air Flight ET302, Illinois federal jurors heard Wednesday.

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Posh Vape Cos. To Pay $20M, Stop Selling In Illinois

By Jonathan Capriel

The companies behind Posh, a well-known disposable vape brand, have agreed to pay Illinois $20 million and to halt sales of the e-cigarettes in the state, ending a lawsuit that accused them of marketing unapproved nicotine to minors, with a Chicago judge signing off on the consent decree.

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LITIGATION

DC Gun Ban Suit Paused For High Court Look At Ill. Case

By Jared Foretek

A D.C. federal judge has stayed the Trump administration's challenge to the city's prohibition on silencers and AR-15s, ordering the case to remain on ice until the U.S. Supreme Court rules on a similar challenge to semiautomatic bans in Illinois and Connecticut.

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LEGAL INDUSTRY

Brown Rudnick Adds 34 Attys, Will Open Silicon Valley Office

By Daniel Moritz-Rabson

Brown Rudnick LLP announced on Wednesday that it had lured a 34-attorney intellectual property litigation group from Herbert Smith Freehills Kramer LLP and would be opening a Silicon Valley office with many of those lawyers.

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Law Grad Employment Remains High As BigLaw Drives Hires

By Aebra Coe

Class of 2025 law school graduates posted near-record high employment rates, with large law firms hiring more graduates than any other industry category as federal government hiring experienced a significant decline, according to new data released Wednesday.

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Analysis

These Firms Are Picking Up The Most PTAB Work

By Theresa Schliep

Intellectual property heavyweight Fish & Richardson PC remains the busiest firm in front of the Patent Trial and Appeal Board, as it again secured the top spot on a list of firms with the most PTAB trials over the past three years.

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Murdaugh Loses Jury Tampering Suit Against Ex-Court Clerk

By Jake Maher

A South Carolina federal judge on Wednesday dismissed disgraced attorney Alex Murdaugh's jury tampering suit against a former court clerk who was found to have interfered in his murder trial, ruling there was no connection between his alleged damages and the ex-clerk's misconduct.

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New Mexico Joins States With Alternative Atty License Paths

By Jack Karp

Law school graduates will soon be able to earn their license to practice in New Mexico by working under an attorney's supervision and demonstrating their legal skills rather than by taking the bar exam, the state's Supreme Court chief justice told Law360 Pulse on Wednesday.

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New Mexico Says Blanche, DOJ Blocked Epstein Ranch Probe

By Lauren Berg

The state of New Mexico asked a Washington, D.C., federal court Wednesday to force the U.S. Department of Justice to hand over unredacted Jeffrey Epstein investigative files, saying it needs the materials for its own investigation of alleged crimes at the late sex offender's Santa Fe County ranch.

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Texas Firm Lands $150M HHS Services Deal For Migrant Kids

By Britain Eakin

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services said it has entered into a $150 million contract with a small Texas law firm to provide legal services to unaccompanied immigrant children, raising concerns from former subcontractors about the firm's experience with immigration matters.

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Simpson Thacher Witness Takes Aim At PIPE Stocks Claim

By Madison Arnold

Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP wrapped up its defense Wednesday to a Florida state malpractice suit from the founder of Patriot National Inc. over the firm's handling of a private investment in public equity transaction, with a stock market expert testifying that short selling stock allowed under the deal didn't lead to the insurance services company's downfall.

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Conn. Atty To Fork Over $3,500 For AI Errors In Taco TM Beef

By Brian Steele

A Connecticut federal judge imposed a $3,500 fine on a defense attorney who submitted two motions riddled with AI-generated mistakes in a taco restaurant's trademark battle, finding that although the lawyer expressed remorse and promised to make changes to his verification process, he still showed "subjective bad faith."

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Sierra Leone Isn't Responding To Its Own Attys, Judge Told

By Aneeta Mathur-Ashton

A second law firm now says it is being iced out by the government of Sierra Leone in a yearslong legal battle that began over the country's dispute with a U.K.-based mining company.

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NY Legal Aid Union Averts Strike After 4 Months Of Talks

By Andrea Keckley

Another New York legal aid union has reached a deal with its organization's management, averting the possibility of a strike after its contract and those of four other unions expired at the end of June.

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CREXi Wants 9th Circ. To Undo Quinn Emanuel CoStar Row DQ

By Bryan Koenig

Commercial Real Estate Exchange Inc. doesn't want to replace Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan LLP after a California federal judge disqualified the firm from defending a copyright infringement suit by CoStar, seeking Ninth Circuit intervention and a pause on the district court case.

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LAW FIRMS IN TODAY'S NEWS

Ashurst Perkins

Berchem Moses

Brown Rudnick

Burns Charest

Cheronis & Parente

Cohen Seglias

Conrad & Scherer

Cotsirilos Poulos

Finnegan

Fish & Richardson

Griffin Humphries

HSF Kramer

Jenner & Block

Latham & Watkins

Peifer Hanson

Podhurst Orseck

Quinn Emanuel

Richard A. Harpootlian PA

Russ August

Simpson Thacher & Bartlett

Stearns Weaver

Sterne Kessler

Taft Stettinius

Williams & Connolly

Willson Jones

Winston Taylor

COMPANIES IN TODAY'S NEWS

AlixPartners LLP

Amica Center for Immigrant Rights

Brooklyn Defender Services

Burke Inc.

Center for Family Representation Inc.

Center for Justice

CoStar Group Inc.

Gerald Holdings LLC

Instagram Inc.

Lex Machina Inc.

LexisNexis Legal & Professional

National Association for Law Placement Inc.

Neighborhood Defender Service of Harlem

Patriot National Inc.

RELX PLC

The Boeing Co.

The Bronx Defenders

United Auto Workers

GOVERNMENT AGENCIES IN TODAY'S NEWS

California Supreme Court

Cook County Circuit Court

Federal Aviation Administration

Food and Drug Administration

Illinois Attorney General's Office

International Trade Commission

New Mexico Attorney General's Office

New Mexico Department of Justice

Office of the Attorney General for the District of Columbia

Patent Trial and Appeal Board

U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of Illinois

U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services

U.S. Department of Justice

U.S. Department of the Interior

U.S. District Court for the Central District of California

U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia

U.S. District Court for the District of Connecticut

U.S. District Court for the District of South Carolina

U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois

U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

U.S. House of Representatives

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement

U.S. Patent and Trademark Office

U.S. Supreme Court

United Nations